The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (72-52, 26-24) and the Durham Bulls (70-52, 25-22) played game five on Saturday night from Coca-Cola Park. Gabe Mosser (3-4, 6.11 ERA) was on the mound for Lehigh Valley against Yoniel Curet (0-2, 5.68 ERA) of Durham.
In the bottom of the third inning, Lehigh Valley left fielder Otto Kemp hit an RBI single to left field. Johan Rojas scored for a 1-0 lead. Later, third baseman Rafael Lantigua hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Donovan Walton scored for a 2-0 lead.
At the top of the fifth inning, Durham shortstop Tanner Murray hit Mosser’s sinker for a solo home run at 412 feet to left-center field. The IronPigs led the Bulls 2-1. It was Murray’s 14th home run of the season.
Lehigh Valley starter Gabe Mosser pitched six innings. He allowed five hits, one run, and five strikeouts throwing 81 pitches, of which 54 were strikes. Moving to the bottom of the sixth inning, Lehigh Valley right fielder Oscar Mercado hit Eric Orze’s splitter for a solo home run at 381 feet to left field for a 3-1 lead. It was Mercado’s 10th home run of the season.
At the top of the eighth inning, Durham had a runner on third base. A wild pitch by Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Guillo Zuñiga scored Cooper Hummel. Lehigh Valley led Durham 3-2.
Michael Mercado pitched for Lehigh Valley at the top of the ninth inning. Mercado could not hold onto the lead. Durham second baseman Jamie Westbrook hit a two-run RBI single to left field. Hunter Stovall and Kameron Misner scored to put the Bulls up 4-3. Mercado allowed two hits, two runs, one walk, and one strikeout throwing 27 pitches, of which 17 were strikes.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Johan Rojas hit a single, and Donovan Walton hit a single to move Rojas to third base. Then, Lehigh Valley left fielder Otto Kemp hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Johan Rojas scored, and the game was tied 4-4. The game headed to extra innings.
In the bottom of the tenth inning, Lehigh Valley catcher Payton Henry hit a game-winning bunt single to third baseman Coco Montes. A throwing error by Montes allowed Rafael Lantigua to score, and the game was over. The IronPigs defeated the Bulls 5-4 for their fifth straight win.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 14 hits, committed one error, went 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left 11 men on base. Left fielder Otto Kemp went 3 for 4 with two singles, a double, and two RBIs, while Oscar Mercado went 2 for 4 with a single, a home run, a stolen base, and one RBI.
The bullpen pitched four innings. They allowed four hits, three runs, three walks, and three strikeouts. The win went to Lehigh Valley relief pitcher Phil Bickford. He pitched one inning throwing 14 pitches, of which 10 were strikes. The loss went to Durham relief pitcher Joey Gerber.
The IronPigs will go for the sweep against the Bulls on Sunday at 1:35 pm.
